The San Juan SWCD is thrilled to announce that the New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts chose our District for the 2020 Outstanding District of the Year award for the state of New Mexico.
From transferring our whole office to telework in March, to finalizing our building design and going to bid to construct it, to juggling nearly 20 grants and keeping them on schedule while working from home – it certainly was a challenging year, which makes this recognition feel even sweeter!
All the work we do is possible because of our many partners, so we would like to take the time to recognize all the organizations and community members that have helped us be so successful in our mission. Here is just a short list of how the community has joined us in accomplishing our stewardship goals over the past year:
We partnered with over 25 property owners on invasive species removal and restoration projects, including several City of Farmington properties and Navajo tribal permittees. This included 400+ acres of Russian olive and salt cedar removal, 516 acres of resprouts treated, 3422 cottonwood poles and 6550 willows planted, and 604 acres reseeded with native grasses.
During the pandemic we had to move our education programs virtually, yet we still had fantastic attendance at our virtual Backyard Conservation Workshop, and our 20 (and counting) YouTube videos have received over 650 views by our community.
Our local elected representatives supported our efforts to construct an office building, where we will be more accessible to our local community and be able to provide additional support and services.
The San Juan Watershed Group continued its restoration planning and partnership building through creative use of Zoom, and successfully completed several water quality restoration projects for bank stabilization, manure management, and erosion control on the Animas River.
The Bureau of Land Management Farmington Field Office funded multiple projects towards better management of our public lands, including treating 708 acres of noxious weeds spread out over thousands of acres of roads, 121 acres of pinon-juniper thinning and re-seeding to improve wildlife habitat on Caracas Mesa, and hiring three summer range management interns and the San Juan Basin Roads Committee coordinator.
Supported the Northwest NM Buy Fresh Buy Local chapter in putting on the Local Food Summit and printing our area’s first ever Local Food Guide.
Check out our Annual Report for a full list of this past year’s accomplishments, and our Annual Work Plan for what we hope to accomplish next.
We would like to send a huge thank you to all our partners that make our conservation work possible – we could not do it without you!